Getting There

Handmade Holiday.

So, I have not gotten very far with Jasper's quilt yet...life has been so busy. I really doubt now that I will get it done in time for Christmas. And I don't think I will have time for any other handmade gifts this year either. I know there are moms out there with more children than me, who manage to homeschool and blog and still have time to knit and sew amazing gifts. But I am not one of those.

But I love the idea of handmade gifts for the holidays. So I have been buying a few handmade things this year from Etsy. Can I share?

I already have this doll, made with organic cotton, for Amy. Isn't it sweet? It was made by Andreann, a lovely young mom in Quebec.

For Amy I am also going to be ordering some baby shoes like these, from a homesteader named Annie.

Jasper is in love with horses, especially Spirit (from the movie of the same name), so I am so excited to give him a horse like this one.

You may have noticed the buttons on my sidebar. Those aren't sponsors, just friends of mine whose work I want to share! There is Tonya whose family sells toys, buttons, and decor items made from beautiful birch branches at The Vermont Branch Company. My farming friend Lindsay (someone whom I actually know "in real life!") has an Etsy shop selling her lovely knitted creations, Trinity Fibrecraft. And a new friend is Mary, who is one of eleven siblings who homestead with their parents and sell handmade toys, soap, and much more in their shop, Home 'n Stead. This is where I found the horse that I am getting Jasper. Although it's out of my price range, I can't resist showing you the amazing Little House on the Prairie play set that Mary and her siblings make...isn't it just perfect?

Although we certainly don't have a large budget for Christmas gifts, I feel good about spending money on handmade gifts. I know that I am supporting a hard-working individual, and I also know that handmade gifts are usually the most memorable and the ones that get kept through the years (as opposed to broken quickly).

I do want to try making some new ornaments for the tree this year, but I am also eyeing these tiny wooden ornaments, aren't they beautiful?

Has anyone else found any particularly nice sources for handmade gifts this year? If so, please do tell! I'm not 100% done my shopping yet...

Leaf Pictures.

We still have quite a lot of leaves hanging around our neighbourhood (on the ground, anyway), so when I saw this post on making pictures from pressed leaves, I wanted to give it a try with the children.

Our results weren't quite as fabulous as the ones in the original post, but we had fun. Strange that although we have been doing crafts with autumn leaves for many years now, I had never thought of simply gluing pressed leaves together into a picture.

Kira made a bunny:

Owen made a monster:

And Jasper made what he called a leaf pile. And then, before I could take a picture of it, he added more glue. And more glue. And a hazelnut, it looks like. And then he added more glue, until the bottle was empty. He squeezed the last bit that was left onto his brother's picture, apparently.

It was fun not only to make the craft, but to go for a walk looking for different shapes of leaves. Next year I'll try this again, but maybe I'll supervise the glue usage a bit more carefully. :)

Has anyone else been doing anything fun with the last remaining autumn leaves?

Thinking toward Christmas.

Last year Chris and I made most of our children's gifts, and we all agreed it was the best Christmas ever. This year, we would like to make gifts once more. So I am trying to get my act together and get some things started. Last year, I pretty much waited until early December and ended up regretting that!

One reason I haven't done anything yet is that still, my sewing machine has been giving me problems. Maybe I am not mechanically inclined, but I seem to have nothing but difficulties with sewing machines! I thought it had been fixed back in the summer, but it still jammed up, and also had a new clicking sound--the repairman that came to our house and charged me an arm and a leg turned out to be rather unscrupulous, it would seem. This time Chris took the machine to a reputable shop and they gave it a complete overhaul. It now runs perfectly (for the first time ever), and no weird clicking sounds. I am so excited about this!

I have learned my lesson. If I ever have problems with it again, I will not mess around and take it straight to the professionals!

The first thing I want to make is a quilt for my youngest boy, Jasper. We don't have enough bedding in our home and lately when I tried to look for blankets in the store, I was disappointed to find that bedding made of natural fibres is beyond our price range. My boys sweat a lot when they are sleeping; it seems cruel to wrap them in polyester at bedtime! So I thought an all-cotton quilt would be a nice thing to make for either one of them.

I don't have much to spend at all, but I do have a good quantity of fabric that was given me by a friend earlier in the year before she moved. I looked through the bag, and there are a number of fabrics that would be all right for a little boy.

Yes, it's a bit of a loud combination, but as a simple patchwork it might look okay, and besides, it's what I have to work with. :) I was thinking of purchasing maybe one yard of fabric in a horse print to add in, since Jasper adores horses. I think that would make it special for him.

I found a navy flannel sheet I can use for the back. For the filling, I had a weird idea--somebody tell me please if this is crazy. It's necessary for me to do this as inexpensively as possible. I have a lot of cloth prefold diapers from Jasper's baby days that are not being used. They are quite worn and I don't know if they would survive another baby. So I thought it might be possible for me to sew together the cloth diapers to create a nice warm center for the quilt. Is this a bad idea? I am well aware that it would probably look a bit lumpy, but I don't think my boy would mind. Anyhow, my main concern is to keep him warm, more than anything else, since our house is very drafty and cold in the winter.

I have a small quilting project in mind for my eldest, too--but of course I can't say what it is, because she reads my blog!

That's all I have planned for now. But I will continue to look for more ideas. I have placed a button on my right sidebar for Handmade Holiday 2011, which is organized by Tonya of Plain and Joyful Living. If you click on it you will see a list of blogs that will feature posts this holiday season on making handmade gifts.

Is anyone else planning any handmade gifts yet? Please tell me about it!

A big boost to my fabric stash!

A local online acquaintance of mine is moving, and wanted to get rid of some of her excess fabric. She offered it to me, and I accepted, and when I went to pick it up I was so happy!

Joy gave me not only a lovely vintage pillowcase with embroidery of spring flowers, but enough fabric to keep me busy for some time! Some peachy-pink florals that would look lovely in the quilt I want to make for Amy, some cute boyish prints that I could put into a quilt for either of the boys, flannel to make pajama pants, blue florals to go into throw pillows for the livingroom, enough Christmas fabric to make gift bags or table runners or placemats, and more. If only somebody could give me an extra 2 hours or so every day! :)

Baby bibs.

I decided that some of the quilting fabric I bought from Etsy to go into the baby girl quilt I'm making was a little bit too loud to go with the other fabrics. So then I decided to make a few baby bibs. This will be baby #4, and my bib supply is severely diminished. A few fresh, girly looking bibs seemed like a great idea, especially since I am still a beginner to the world of sewing, and I'm still trying to find small, easy projects to work on before I move to the more challenging world of sewing clothing.

I found an easy and free pattern here, and got to work. I used quilting fabric for the front, and plain white flannel for the back.   The fabric is a vintage print I bought for very cheap, the flannel was taken from some old, gently-used cloth diapers, and the snap was free (I traded my grandma some snaps for some hook-and-eyes I had, that she needed.)

This bib is supposed to be "infant sized," which I take it means it's just for the drooling, spit-up stage, not for meals. I think with the fabrics I used it's a bit thin though even for that. When I make more I think I will use a double layer of flannel. Terrycloth would work too, but I don't have any old towels that aren't hideous colours.

Last night after the kids were in bed, Chris and I were sitting having our nightly chat. He was carving a wooden spoon, and I was sewing a snap onto the bib. We had a discussion about how much we both truly enjoy making things. Baby spoons and bibs are two things which are very easy to come by in the stores, but if we were to buy them not only would we spend more money, but we would lose the satisfaction of creating something new with our own hands. It almost seems like magic, to take something that looks like nothing--a rough block of wood, or a square of fabric--and turn it into something. I doubt we will ever tire of this.

I look forward to the day when my sewing skills have improved to the point where I can make clothing for myself and for the children. For now though, I'll practice on bibs. Those curves are actually pretty tricky!

Winter Cocooning.

It was -18 degrees Celcuis when I woke up this morning. That's about 0 Farenheit--fairly cold for this southern part of Ontario, although it does get colder. February weather! (Below is a view of our street from the upper storey.)

This time of year, the children and I just don't go outside very much. It's too cold, and Jasper never keeps on his mittens, and refuses to wear boots (opting for running shoes instead)...so we have been cocooning a lot inside lately. And really, it feels right this time of year to just stay safe and cozy and restful inside the house while the icy wind whips around the house outside. Especially when I am pregnant, and still recovering from illness.

Even without much time outside, we can all find plenty of enjoyable things to do within the warmth of the house.

Lots of reading goes on at all times of day.

Playing with paper dolls--these ones are based on Little House in the Big Woods.

And crafts. Today the children and I made a Valentine's Day mobile while we listened to some lovely music by Vivaldi, which is the composer we're currently studying for school.

After supper each night, I've been enjoying a nice hot tea and reading a thick, meaty novel--The Count of Monte Cristo (which, by the way, is a deep and fascinating study on human character, and nothing much like the movie at all). Later at night, when the children are tucked into bed, Chris and I have been sitting and chatting while we each do some kind of hand work. I recently picked up an old cross-stitch which I had abandoned years ago, and I'm truly enjoying working on it again. The movement of the needle in and out of the cloth is so soothing.
It's a pleasure to have this time of quiet work and rest at this season of the year, before the busy activity and excitment of spring arrives.

What sort of indoor activities are my readers enjoying right now? 

A wee little project, and some thrifty finds.

A kind friend recently gave me a variety of quilting fabric, and the other night I decided to use a few bits to make the mousepad project from Amanda Soule's Handmade Home, which I currently have out from the library.

Although my fabric store didn't have heavy interfacing as the instructions required, leaving the pad rather floppy, I think it worked well. It gave me a chance to practice using the zig zag stitch on my machine, as well as an opportunity to try using fusible interfacing for the first time (and hey, it's much easier than I thought it would be). I like the colourful fabric too--it brightens up our old, tired looking computer desk.

Yesterday I went shopping, intending to find some more fabric for the baby quilt I'm going to make. I couldn't find any (at least, not any on sale) but I did make some nice finds at the thrift store.

The two bedsheets are in great condition--I'm not sure what I'll make with them yet but I couldn't leave that much cute fabric there for the price. The vintage apron (for a mere 99 cents) is a necessity for me now, since I spend a lot of time in the kitchen and my pregnant belly tends to pick up a lot of splatters! And the nightgown pattern is from 1952. Isn't it lovely? In a few years when my as yet unborn babe is a little girl, and my sewing skills have improved, I plan on giving it a try.

It's enjoyable to think about doing crafty things indoors while the weather is so cold outside...in a few months I know I'll be yearing to get into the garden (newborn strapped on) but for now, I'm having a great time thinking about things I'm going to sew.

2010 in review.

When I started this blog back in March, my goal was to use this space to chronicle my family's journey towards a simpler life--in one way, by learning the skills to be more self-sufficient, like people were in the "old days"--and in another more literal way, by saving up to buy a piece of land in the country where we could have our own homestead.

So here on December 31st, it's natural that I ask myself, "What progess have we made towards these goals?"

I think we've done very well where it comes to learning new skills to allow us to do more for ourselves. In fact, saying we've learned a lot this year is really an understatement. A few highlights:

• I learned how to can homemade jam, and it's so delicious we'll never go back to store bought! I also put by a great deal of homemade applesauce and apple butter for the first time. 
• We also learned that when pick raspberries, strawberries and blueberries in the summer, we need A LOT more to last us the year. It's quite amazing how much one family can consume--I greatly underestimated. For example, Jasper loves to eat frozen blueberries as a snack pretty much every day--and here we are in December, and we have been out of blueberries for several weeks. Now I am buying store bought berries for him, which is not at all what I had planned.
• I continued to learn how to make more meals from scratch, and I learned how to make my own sprouts and granola.
• Chris has greatly expanded his self-taught woodworking abilities to include turning bowls, plates and cups. Just now he is experimenting with making spoons, and we hope this will give a boost to our family business.
• We learned a lot about growing vegetables this year. Or rather, how not to grow them! For example, do NOT grow potatoes in pure compost, because it will be too nitrogen rich and you'll get all leaves and no potatoes. Do NOT try to grow pumpkins in a tiny back yard, and do NOT plant four cherry tomato plants when only one person in the family eats them!
• I finally figured out my sewing machine, and have sewed many projects already, including a doll quilt. I have been reading a lot about quilting lately so that I can begin soon on a "real" quilt. 
• Chris and I discovered how much fun it is to create handmade gifts for holidays and birthdays.
• Chris has greatly expanded the number of songs he can play on the guitar. (I consider playing a musical instrument to be a form of self-sufficiency, since you can then create your own entertainment).
• We're learning ways to be more frugal all the time, and make some of our own cleaning and personal care products.
• We've learned how important it is to our sanity to have a daily routine to our family life, and that it's very important to take a break from technology sometimes (i.e. the computer and tv) and just enjoy the peace and quiet together.

Some of these activities have saved us money, but more than that they have all been very satisying. I love the feeling of creating something with my hands--it's something that was missing from my life before.

Our other goal was saving up for our homestead. This has been very difficult for us since not only are we paying fairly high rent to live in the city, but Chris was in college for the first half of the year, and after working throughout the summer was laid off in September. However, these past few months, even though we were living only off of our Etsy shop, we managed not only to get by but to save a tiny bit. And I find that in itself encouraging. I know that we are working towards our goal, even if our progess seems painfully slow at times, and I'm proud of us for making our family business work.

Next year we are going to try even harder to live frugally and save every penny. But I'll talk about 2011 in a post tomorrow. For now, I'll just say a big "Thank You" to all of my readers for joining me as I wrote about our struggles and successes in 2010. I'm so grateful and humbled that you lovely people take the time to stop by, and I sincerely hope to enjoy your company more in 2011.

On that note, I hope everyone has a joy-filled evening tonight, and I'll see you next year! :)

 

A Handmade Birthday.

It's hard for me to believe, but Owen's 6th birthday has come and gone. My baby is growing up so quickly! It seems that only yesterday we were welcoming that tiny, red, screaming bundle of happiness into this world, and now he's a big boy who can read and ride his bike and do arithmetic, and who constantly amazes us with the depth of his scientific knowledge.

He wanted a cake this year that looked like a clock that was set to 6 o'clock. This is what I came up with:

Since Owen enjoys white chocolate, I made a white chocolate ganache in lieu of frosting. Alas, I did not make enough, but I think the sprinkles hid my mistake well enough.

Chris and I continued the handmade theme for this occasion. Using fabric I already had, I sewed him a cape, and I bought a piece of brown felt and some elastic and sewed a fake beard, which I think looks pretty darn cute if I may say so myself.

To go with this, Chris made him a sword and shield set. The shield was made from some birch plywood he had, the sword from maple.

I'm glad that he made another smaller pair for Jasper, so the boys could play together. They were delighted with these toys, and set to work playing with them immediately.

What fun it is to create gifts with your own two hands. I'm so glad that Chris and I decided to embark on this journey of becoming more self-reliant and of purchasing less. The emotional satisfaction of self-sufficiency is, to me, a greater reward than the financial one.

A Handmade Christmas.

I hope all my readers had a wonderful and relaxing Christmas. :)

As I mentioned before, we tried to make most of our children's Christmas gifts this year. Really, we started out doing this because our budget was extremely limited. But as we began making the projects, we realized how much we truly enjoyed doing things this way.

Kira caught onto our enthusiasm, and she also made homemade gifts - artwork for her dad and Owen, a sock puppet for Jasper, and some wonderful coupons for me.

For Kira, Chris fashioned a doll bed out of an old dismantled change table. I painted the rough edges with some white paint we still had from painting the diningroom last year. I made a doll quilt, mattress and pillow out of scraps I already had or that I collected from my mom and grandmother. Total cost: $0.

For Owen, Chris built a garage for his toy monster trucks, since he likes to "put them to bed" each night. He plans to add on some ramps soon for added fun. This was made from the same materials as the bed. Total cost: $0.
I also made him a wall hanging out of a hand-me-down crib blanket we were not using. I sewed fabric strips and buttons along the top to hang it, and added some pockets so he can store things in there. I plan to add more pockets when I get the chance. I used fabric and buttons I got from my generous grandmother's stash. Total cost: $0.

For Jasper, Chris made two sets of the wheeled animals we sell in our Etsy shop: the farm animals and the woodland animals. This gift did cost something, for the wood, but still far less than anything similar we could buy.

A while back, I also sewed a purse for Kira's best friend, which was made entirely of scraps that were kindly given to me and therefore cost nothing. And we gifted a few people with baked goods as well this year.

After seeing firsthand how much more fun it is to do handmade gifts at Christmas, we will certainly do this again next year. I'm starting to think of ideas already! However, we now know that we need to begin in August, literally. We were frantically trying to finish our projects Christmas Eve, and I would prefer not to do that again.

If you made some handmade gifts this year, please share in the comments!